Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which the heavily leveraged cable-television operator has previously said it would do as part of a debt-reduction agreement with some of its creditors.

Charter, controlled by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) co-founder Paul Allen, said last month it would file for bankruptcy protection by April 1 as part of an agreement with some of its debtholders to reduce its debt by about $8 billion. The company had $21.7 billion at year’s end.